The International Writers Magazine:
THE THOUGHTS AND OPINIONS OF A BUDDHIST AMONG BAPTISTS
• Reverend Father Antonio Hernández, O.M.D., A.B.F.
Founder of the Independent Order of American Buddhist Fathers
suriak@yahoo.com

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SO I LATHERED HIM WITH ME SHILLELAGH We had an ancient relative living in Mexico, a small, thin man with a long white beard. We visited him when I was very young. I was instructed to call him Tio Salomón [sic], "Uncle Solomon". He was very kind but quiet. For reasons no could ever explain to me, he was well-dressed and wearing an interesting walking stick, even though we were all 'at home' for the evening. I've never been able to forget my Uncle Solomon, whom I never saw again, nor his cane.

It seems Tio Salomón was a cousin of an ancestor of ours. His cane was a shillelagh, and I learned he never let it go for fear of anti-Semite attacks on his frail old person. Most of my life I had wanted a cane just like it. I would have to wait many decades before finally owning one. It didn't stop me from researching the shillelagh (I was a weird kid and studied things like that). The history of the Irish shillelagh specifically is a fascinating and colorful one, and has caused me to cherish even more deeply the two shillelaghs I presently own.

The Irish shillelagh is correctly spelled "sail-éílle"- properly pronounced "shahll-AY-luh" but commonly pronounced as "shuh-LAY-LEE". The sail-éílle is thought to be a tomahawk-like cudgel. That is a false notion: "sail-éílle" means "walking stick" or "cane" in Gaelic. "Bata" is the word for a short club or fighting stick; note its resemblance to the word "baton"- that is what "bata" means. It's also where we get our word "bat". The "sail-éílle bata" is a newer but inaccurate term applied to the cudgel; in that respect, then, a sail-éílle is also called "sail-éílle mór", "the great cane".

There is a misconception about the finished condition of the sail-éílle: that it is supposed to be crooked, cracked, or otherwise unusable. It is a ridiculous notion introduced by crooked and cracked merchants. A sail-éílle is supposed to be like any other properly useful cane: stout, straight, weight-bearing and well finished. Do not believe for one moment that anything substandard should be acceptable. Originally the shillelaghs were made of stout Irish oak. How can one walk, let alone defend oneself, with something warped and cracked? 'Caracter'- Irish for "character"- does not imply "damaged".

All Irish boys are given a short shillelagh and begin training in the native martial art of Ireland, shillelagh fighting. During adolescence, boys are considered to attain manhood when they finally receive their first full-length shillelagh. The shillelagh becomes a right of passage, and so does training to fight with it. In fact, this Irish martial art is one of the oldest martial arts on earth, competing easily with the ancient boxing or stick styles of Sumer, Egypt and India. The name for this art is "Bataireacht Sail-Éílle", literally "Cane-battle" (modern pron. "bah-TAH-reht shall-AY-luh").

The favorite sail-éílle material today is blackthorn, that sacred Celtic wood. It is referred to as a "plum" wood, as it bears tiny flowers and is related to the plum-giving family. The vicious thorns, according to experts, must be smoothed completely down in an ordinary cane but this is not the case with shillelaghs. A nice "knobbly bit" is left where each thorn is severed from the cane. It offers an excellent grip, and can defend its owner savagely. Another favorite I learned about is American Purpleheart wood, a striking purple wood that is one of the world's finest.

The place to get a shillelagh is Lollysmith's, and you can see them online at: http://store.lollysirishgifts.com, where the folks are friendly to a fault. Owen is the proprietor of Lollysmith's. These very dear friends of mine, who in fact gifted me with my very first shillelagh, have a terrific sort of database about Irish culture, and good links. They asked me in my capacity as an anthropologist why people seem to become so attached to blackthorn: "What is it about blackthorn?"
to which I respond, it's the venerated cultural tradition. We become attached to materials the way we do to people. The ancient Celts, whose descendants more than hold their own today, revered the blackthorn almost as much as the oak. And with its unsurpassable wood qualities, vicious thorns and huge root-knob, blackthorn is hard to beat.

But there is another answer: TRADITION. A wee bit o' the old country. I know people hereabouts who have venerable shillelagh collections, all handed down as heirlooms. At the end of the day, at least for me, SAIL-ÉÍLLE is synonymous with TRADITION. It is not about fighting or nationalism, as it may have been for my Tio Salomón; it is about home and hearth. An old-fashioned Irishman wouldn't be caught dead without his shillelagh: as we have seen, there's good reason for it.

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